The announcement from U.S. Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell was an ominous one.

With firefighting money running out, last month he ordered managers to divert money from other programs to fund firefighting.

On the one hand, it makes sense. At the height of firefighting season, you cannot risk having no cash to pay for fire suppression. It has happened so often it has a nickname: Fire borrowing.

The trouble with that scenario is it siphons money from the programs designed to lessen the chance of severe fires that sterilize the soil and endanger lives.

To make matters worse, the vicious cycle of borrowing prevention money to fight the fires licking at our doorsteps is happening in an era of increased fire danger.

Drought, early snowmelt, rising temperatures and increasing numbers of people moving into wildlands have changed the landscape when it comes to wildfires.

It’s time the Obama administration paid attention — and by that we mean put money into — a problem that is a serious threat for Western states.

Instead, the administration has been reducing its commitment to fund the all-important thinning of overgrown forests, which are ripe for the hottest and most devastating fires that not only destroy homes, but also damage water supplies and power lines.

Consider this: In 2012, 1.8 million acres were treated in an effort to reduce forest-fire danger, according to an Associated Press story citing U.S. Department of Agriculture figures. The Obama administration proposes cutting that to 685,000 acres next year.

That is a huge reduction in an already inadequate effort.

Four senators, including Colorado’s U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, wrote to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in June to express concerns about the reductions.

“Our understanding is that these cuts were based on OMB’s continued skepticism about the efficacy of hazardous fuels treatments,” the senators wrote. “We whole-heartedly disagree with OMB on this point.”

Meanwhile, Tidwell — in a statement to a Senate committee in June — said 65 million to 82 million acres of National Forest System lands need fuel reduction and forest health treatments. That’s as much as 42 percent of the entire system.

Furthermore, the hazardous- fuels reduction program, funded at $500 million last year, was reduced to $419 million this year because of automatic budget reductions. It could fall to $292 million next year.

That is a troubling trend.

“It’s much less expensive to prevent a fire than it is to fight a fire,” Udall told The Durango Herald. “It’s common sense. Common sense doesn’t always hold fast in Washington.”

No kidding.

The administration should undertake a realistic approach to budgeting that covers the increased risk of wildfire yet maintains prevention money so there is a chance of pushing back against the fire borrowing cycle.

This is a matter of life and property that disproportionately affects Western residents. It deserves more attention than it is getting from Washington, D.C.

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It’s a perfect storyline for a TV series that peels away the veneer of post-racial Ivy League pretensions to see the anxieties raging barely beneath the surface among college students and their neurotic helicopter parents.